Where science meets art

Ciba recently launched Color Trend Vision, a design and technology package developed to provide designers, converters and paint, ink and masterbatch producers with global and regional colour trend forecasts and information, design tools, technology, consulting services and products for coatings, inks and plastics applications.

Part of Color Trend Vision, the Color Evolution Guide is a 200-page source of information on upcoming colour trends based on research in key regions of the world. The book provides details of the respective colours, based on their current and future trend position. It describes the origin, affinities and emotional associations of the trend colours, as reflected in photos taken in all parts of the world. Real spray-outs of each shade are provided after each description. Color Trend Vision incorporates designers’ opinions on colour and style.

“Every design process is inspired by something else, something the designer has seen, heard or felt,” says Kathrin Schiffner, a Berlin-based fashion designer and journalist. Here, she explains the importance of trends on the design process.

INFRA. Is there a global style in fashion design or do geographical differences and dependencies have to be taken into account?
KS. I think that today we can indeed speak of a ‘global style’. The large brand houses feature the same collections in Tokyo as in Sao Paolo. Demand might not be the same everywhere, but this can also vary between a store in, say, Berlin Center and one in Düsseldorf.

Since a style or product trend is often shaped by the cultural trends of a social environment and attitudes are similar everywhere in the western world, differences are tending to disappear more and more. Traditional, culture-related designs influenced by a specific place will not – it is to be hoped – vanish completely, but they seldom play a predominant role in the fashions of the big brands.

INFRA. Was that different a few years ago? Is there a trend in trend development?
KS. This development is no longer really new, but it will continue to intensify. With the steady increase of world trade, trends will continue to merge. True, there is a recognizable trend toward special regional or geographical features, but I don’t think that this will establish itself so firmly in the foreseeable future that we can speak of a real counter-movement.

INFRA. You work with fashion as well as with trends in general. Is there a parallel between fashion and other trends or do fashion trends develop independently of investment goods, architecture and interior design?
KS. A fashion trend is not a trend in the sense of a major transformation process. A fashion trend, like the New Look of the 1950s, must be distinguished from a short-term craze, like the horizontally striped shirts of this summer. Fashion as an industry has developed into a very fast-moving sector with numerous collections every year and new trends every month. This process can scarcely be compared with developments in the automobile, furnishing or architectural sectors. Quite apart from the fact that these investment goods require much longer research, design and production phases, very few consumers can afford to buy a new car, new furniture, etc. every year.

INFRA. Does that also apply to colour trends?
KS. Statistical surveys have shown that colour trends have a seven-year cycle, although the ‘classic’ colours always sell – in general better than the trend colours. However, I think that colour trends are similar to other trends – although for technical reasons they change more rapidly and more frequently in fashion than in investment goods. In addition, some colours lend themselves to specific products, for example a lilac ladies’ sweater is more likely to catch on than a lilac car.

INFRA. In fashion, designers often imitate the style of another generation. Why is that so? Is there nothing new to invent?
KS. There are numerous reasons for this in my opinion. In the fashion sector, it is probably true that there is no longer anything new to invent – not necessarily because we have already seen it all, but because the scope of the human body in terms of functionality and aesthetics is very narrow.

Another important reason is that beautiful objects have already been judged to be so by a large number of people. So why should they vanish forever? We still listen to Mozart’s music today, although Mozart himself is long gone.

Retro trends are not a 20th century phenomenon, even if it might often seem so. The classical fashions of the eighteenth century resemble the shirt-like clothing of antiquity, and in about 1850 fashion went through a new rococo age with the return of the crinoline.

And exactly 100 years later, Dior’s New Look, with its narrow waists and full skirts, was reminiscent of these forms. In this way, shapes and details re-appear slightly changed, translated to reflect the spirit of the time. Our increasing awareness of trend repetition is due to the extremely high frequency of new trends. Today, it does not take 100 years for a trend to return, because all resources needed to develop and propagate it have been greatly simplified and accelerated.

INFRA. And is there any connection between new (avant-garde) and retro fashion?
KS. One conditions the other. Every design process is inspired by something that the designer saw, heard or felt. Nothing can be created in a vacuum. Designs in the making are influenced by current trends, so there is interaction.

This interview was first published in the Color Evolution Guide.